Windmill.



S. I'0T'IEER.

WINDMI'LL. v APPLIOATION FILED man, 1910.' 988,098'. Patented Mams,1911'.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

wl l Jawa/Z 270# f? THE Nopzms PETERS co4, WASHINGTON. D. n.

S. HOFFER.

WINDMILL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 12, 1910.

"Paten-m11 11111.28, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

v I l v me/wko@ fafzz Haj SAMUEL HOEEER, 0F HAIGLER, NEBRASKA.

WINDMILL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. as, i911.

Application filed March 12, 1910. Serial No. 548,842.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL Honrnn, a citizen of the United States,residing at I-Iaigler, in the county of Dundy and State of Nebraska,have invented new and useful Improvements in IVindmills, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to wind mills, the object of the invention beingto provide a wind mill embodying a novel construction, arrangement andmode of mounting and controlling the sails or vanes of the mill, wherebya simple, eicient and reliable type of mill may be inexpensivelyproduced and one which will supply sufficient power for variouspurposes.

The invention consists of the features of construction, combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a wind mill embodying my invention, showing some of thesails closed or folded to an inoperative position. Fig. 2 is a top planview. of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3 3 ofFig. 1. Fig. 1 is a detail view of one of the sails showing its mode ofmounting.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the wind mill tower or frame,which may be of any suitable construction, and is provided with bearingsfor a hollow vertical shaft 2, which shaft carries at its lower end abeveled gear 3 for transmitting power to a similar gear 1 on atransmitting shaft 5, which may be provided with a fly wheel 6. The geara carries the usual crank or wrist pin 7 for communicating motion to areciprocating rod 7 ,which may be the operating -rod of a pumpingmechanism.

'Ihe shaft 2 carries at its upper end a collar or head 8 provided withhollow radial arms 9, in which are secured, by set screws 10, radialrods 11 supporting the sails or vanes 12. The rods 11 carry at theirouter ends collars 13 each secured thereto by a set screw 14 andprovided with upwardly and downwardly extending eyes 15 and 16 receivingthe ends of stay wires or braces 17 connecting the outer ends of saidrods with the outer ends of the adjacent rods in front and rear thereofin the direction of rotation of the wheel. rIhe collar 13 is alsoprovided with a lug 18, for a purpose presently described.

Each sail or vane 12 comprises a rectangular frame over which may bestretched a body of sheet metal, fabric or other suitable' material. Thesails'are pivoted eccentrically upon the rods 11, and are provided upontheir shorter arms with balancing weights 19 operating to return them toa horizontal or inoperative position upon an absence'of wind pressure orreduction of the wind pressure below a determined degree. By the'actionof the weights, the sails, while held normally out of the wind, whenthere is a lack of proper pressure, are forced to an operative positionby suiicient wind pressure against the resistance of the weights,whereby the sails will be arranged vertically to the wind to receive theforce of the same but are allowed to turn horizontally or edgewise onthe return side of the wheel by the eect of the wind on the longer sidesof the sails, allowing high speed and power to be obtained with aminimum amount of air pressure. The sails are held from outward slidingmovement on the rods 11 by the collars 13 and they are held from inwardsliding movement on the rod by collars 20, each of which is adjustablysecured upon its rod by a set screw 2l and is provided with a lug 22projecting outwardy and arranged to lie in the plane of the lug 18 ofthe collar 13. The two lugs 18 and 22 have vertical stop faces 18a and22a, respectively, properly disposed to act as stops or abutments tolimit the swinging movement of the sail to a vertical position under thepressure of the air thereon, so that excess pivotal movement of the sailwill be prevented, while, when in operative position, the full effect ofthe air pressure thereon may be obtained. The lugs are also formed withhorizontal stop faces 18b and 22h, respectively, to impart the swingingmovement of the sail from a vertical to a folded position. If desired,the collars may have their lugs provided with guide flanges 18c and 22C,respectively, to cooperate with the inner ends of the sleeves for thepurpose of guiding the sail in a fixed path, thus securing increasedstability.

Devices are provided for holding two or more of the sails or vanes in aninoperative or horizontal position, through which the required number ofsails may be thrown out of the wind at any time to stop the operation ofthe mill. In the present instance, I have shown the use of four sails orvanes arranged at an angle of 90o about the center of their carriertrame, and devices for holding two of these sails located diametricallyopposite each other out of operation, when desired. Each of thesedevices comprises a bell crank lever 23 pivotally mounted upon thesupporting sleeve 9 of the sail, one arm of which lever is connected bya cord or its equivalent 2d with a pivoted locking or engaging member 25having a hooked end 2G, arranged to engage the sail in an obviousmanner, so that bya swinging movement of said device the sail when swungto a horizontal position by the action of the wind may be locked in suchposition. The other arms of the two levers 23 are connected with a ropeor cord 27 extending downward through the hollow shaft 2, by which saiddevices may be simultaneously operated.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings,the construction and mode of operation ol" my improved wind mill will bereadily understood and it will be seen that it provides a mill which issimple of construction, eliicient in use, inexpensive of production, andcapable of supplying a large amount of power and being easilycontrolled.

It will be apparent, or" course, that the weight-s permit the sails toyield to the pressure of a strong wind, to reduce the amount ofpropelling` surface exposed thereto, and permit the sails to swing opento their fullest extent when a light wind is blowing, whereby a largelyautomatic speed control of the wind wheel is secured.

Having described the invention, I claim A wind mill comprising a frame,a vertical shaft journaled thereon, rods radiating from the said shaft,inner and outer collars upon each rod, the outer collar being providedwith eyes and both collars with stop lugs, a sail or vane eccentricallymounted upon each rod between said collars and limited in swingingmovement by said lugs, guide flanges upon the inner ends of the lugs,each of said sails being provided upon its shorter arm with acounterbalancing weight, stay wires connecting the rods and coupled tothe eyes of the outer collars, and means for holding certain of thesails in an inoperative position.

ln testimony whereof l affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

SAll/UEL HOFFER. lWitnesses C. L. VILL, WM. H. LARNED.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

